Attention all Knifemakers!.....Product dealers/retailers and/or knife makers/sharpeners/hobbyists (etc) are not permitted to insert business related text/videos/images (company/company name/product references) and/or links into your signature line, your homepage url (within the homepage profile box), within any posts, within your avatar, nor anywhere else on this site. Market research (such as asking questions regarding or referring to products/services that you make/offer for sale or posting pictures of finished projects) is prohibited. These features are reserved for supporting vendors and hobbyists.....Also, there is no need to announce to the community that you are a knifemaker unless you're trying to sell something so please refrain from sharing.
Thanks for your co-operation!

Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums by donating using the link above or becoming a Supporting Member.

We had a thread on FF a couple of years ago about bluing a knife. I had found a small company that makes a cold bluing product (can't recall if it's Brownell's that Jim used) and inquired about it. One member bought some and tried it. I think he didn't have great results. The bluing took, but didn't protect the blade, and possible wore off.

Had to revive the old thread

This is my first post. I created this account here to revive this thread as I cannot find any information on the web on how to successfully anodized knife blades to protect the steel with a patina.

I have anodized 1095 carbon steel with vinegar and a 12Vdc 0.5A power supply. The power supply was a radio shack wall adapter. Any wall adapter of suitable voltage and Amperage will work, as long as the wall adapter produces DC voltage. To determine which lead of the power supply to use, dissolve a spoon full of baking soda into a cup of water and place both wires of the powersupply in the solution. The wire that is producing the most bubbles is producing hydrogen gas. This is the Cathode. The wire producing the oxygen gas is your anode and that is the wire the knife blade is attached to. I used alligator clips to attach the de-greased knife blade to the anode and I used 00Steel wool as the cathode. In seconds I could see the knife blade begin to blacken. I anodized the blade for roughly 10 minutes or so.

The amperage and voltage of the power supply determine the thickness and characteristics of the oxide coating on your knife blade. There is a voltage to produce the reaction on the knife blade; however an over-voltage is required to actually get the reaction to occur. To much over-voltage can destabilize the oxide coating resulting in a flaky coating. To much Amperage ad the reaction occurs rapidly and unevenly. I found 12Vdc and 0.5A to work well; however, I urge you to try your own experiments and report back.

Lastly, the concentration of vinegar should be between 5 and 25 percent by mass for maximum electric conductivity.

Attached is a photo of a ForgeCraft butcher knife and an Old Hickory Skinner anodized following the procedure outline above.[IMG][/IMG]